David Bowie (born David Robert Jones on January 8, 1947) is an iconic cross-era english rock musician. Bowie has been called the chameleon of rock, due to his ability to predict (and even set) musical trends, adjusting his musical persona accordingly.

As multi-instrumentalist, he is famous for playing the guitar, piano and saxophone; but also plays the harmonica, drums, cello, marimba, bass guitar, koto, stylophone and spoons. He rose to fame with the heady 1969 folk rock single Space Oddity and became a glam-rock icon with the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972). Subsequent albums have explored blue-eyed soul, electronica and new wave, often predating these genres’ popularity or even the point at which they were defined as genres.

Bowie is one of the most influential rock musicians from the 1970s to the present. He has sold an estimated 136 million albums in his career and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Due to his wide spread into different genres, it could be said that he influences most modern bands at least on an indirect level (i.e. Bowie influenced a band who influenced them). In addition to his musical career, Bowie has had success as a painter, webdesigner, sculptor and actor, starring in many films (including Labyrinth, Basquiat, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Hunger, The Prestige and Zoolander) across the years.

On September 11, 1977, David Bowie appeared alongside Bing Crosby for the filming of Crosby’s annual Christmas special, shortly before Crosby’s death. Their duet of “Little Drummer Boy” proved to be one of the most influential moments of music history as they bridged the generations with a single song.

Bowie is also credited as being a major inspiration behind the new romantic/futurist movement, and subsequent development of electronic/electronica music, all of which eventually led to dance music as we know it now.

His stage act is rivalled by few, with Bowie frequently bringing the worlds of high-art, mime and straight theatre to the rock stage. His most famous onstage look was that of Ziggy Stardust. Other personae include Halloween Jack, Aladdin Sane (the album cover of which features the famous lightning bolt across his face) and the Thin White Duke.